Books, paper, and iPad: which teaches contemporary book publishing?

Stephen Colbert (Stephen Colbert) in October 2011, began his TV show with the fact that with his usual sarcasm and caustic for him He said: soon we all will be not only the iPhone and iPad, but iV (thing by which Internet can be "put on vein "). Then, from under the table leading drew Isaacson bestseller about Steve Jobs as thick as 600 pages and began to criticize the book. Like, "swipe" on the cover does not lead to a page turning, the picture does not change when you turn the book orientation automatically, headphones stick nowhere, and voice recognition does not work - where is the justice generally?! After all, it's not in the spirit of Steve!

Jokes were aimed at geeks more than ordinary consumers of books and paper products; but the author of the sketch on the air of the evening show, and probably did not know that his sketch exactly described a state in which there is a modern edition of the book industry.

Same Biography of Steve Jobs from the publisher Simon & Schuster published digitally printed after the release only because otherwise the case of an electronic copy of the book "killed" to the sale of the printed version in most countries, which was represented by book. True, there remains another paradox:

despite the fact that computers are now entered in almost every corner of our lives, the majority of people still read the story of Steve's computers and its influence on our contemporary reality on paperRather than electronically.

Despite our nostalgic devotion paper the younger generation of consumers (and readers) will soon ask the question "what is a book" Instead of asking 'what is a tablet. "

In the summer of 2011 was launched a pilot project called Every Book Is a Startup, The purpose of which was to expand the boundaries of traditional publishing. The aim of the project was the creation of the book in several stages, with the final release of the finished "book-startup" in 2012. All readers in the process of publishing new chapters and writing a book can leave comments and suggestions. The price of the book is also rapidly changing, gradually increasing. Pay can be at any stage: the reader who has paid the subscription once, all subsequent chapters received free (ie those who paid in the beginning, I got a book at a lower price than those who joined in the final project to the audience).

At the beginning of the point distribution of content only was the site oreilly.comBecause the project was a feature of the dynamic content renewability, which is impossible in a traditional store electronic (or printed) books.

operate online projects such as the Internet Readmill and SocialBookWhich allow you to use the files in the ePUB format to highlight the chapters and paragraphs, and distribute this content through the network to other readers.

Project "Every Book Is A Startup" can hardly be called a book to the classic sense of the word: Finished work, which has a content of printed pages, cover, one author and physically tangible form. But there is hidden potential, which no one before and did not think: the possibility of gradually creating their own copyright world, presentation and adaptation of what is happening in the book, depending on the reaction of readers to the chapters of the book, which they have already read.

Publishing in the digital era, when hard "snap" to the paper and the "readiness" of the book there is no perfection, on the verge of successive changes (Perhaps they are not less radical than those of the Middle Ages brought Gutenberg and his printing press).

On the other hand, It does not decrease "camp" supporters of the traditional form factor and support for books. Paper and the screen are not only in terms of the tactile properties (over what Internet users are so fond of jokes). This 2 fundamentally different media channels. Yes, interactive and more data (music, audio, notes and visuals) available for e-books are not available for the printed versions. But the printed book has non-volatility and does not require a specific platform, content distribution service or the configuration of gadgets for reading. The connection between the form factor and the essence of the book risks remain unchanged after more than 550 years since the invention of printing. It's not the smell and the rustling of paper pages, and how comfortable / uncomfortable specific people perceive and process informationPresented in the form of an e-book or in the form of a printed book.

The debate between supporters and opponents of e-books - is not just the battle of the "old" and "new," and the dispute between the two different types of consumers.

Fans of traditional book format is said that "the word belongs to them." The digital book on tablets like we are told that "the word belongs to all", and digital format just made that word better and more attractive to consumer.

In the early twentieth century, "car" was a "horseless carriage." The reason was the fact that it was easier to describe the new phenomenon with the help of the familiar old notion than to invent a new concept. About the same is happening now with the "electronic books." They are a new product on the basis of the old traditional forms. Perhaps to stop "holivorov" we should think of the "e-books" for a new definition, does not bind the old paper format with the new media?

By the way, as you read the book? On paper, on your tablet, on your smartphone? Tell us in the comments.

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